Day 49: Noon - Tasty Burger

[thatdamnedninja.livejournal.com]

Once she'd found she wasn't in any danger whatsoever of hopping aboard the Pukemobile, Yuffie had gotten kinda peckish. She'd ditched the bagged breakfast ages ago, way back on the bus, and, haha, like hell was she trekking back over that way to get it. Too much to see in a town without a lot in it.

So, here she was. Sitting at a plastic table in a plastic chair, in the almost completely plastic 'Tasty Burger', with fries, chicken strips, and a banana shake to wash it down with. Yuffie wrinkled her nose, more put off by the Eastern-style 'meal' than the reproachful stares of the staff and patrons. The latter she was way, way more than used to. Came with the job description. All of the job descriptions.

"Should've gone to the Twin Pine," Yuffie muttered around the (plastic!) straw, slumping forward onto her damp, denim-clad elbows. Taking a long pull of vaguely banana-flavored gloop, she cast a deft, if bored, eye around the establishment. As always, she'd gone for the most strategic seat; one that let her see as much as possible, without cutting off her access to at least one viable escape route. Not that she wanted to look at the place. Eurgh.

It was still hard to reconcile how this place should have looked with how it did look. Quick repair jobs were one thing, but something about the set-up rubbed Yuffie the wrong way. It was the same the whole town over. Chips, here and there, cracks in windows and doodles on walls. But no scorch marks, no sign that there'd been a no-holds-barred battle tearing up the place from top to bottom. The residents were pissy and suspicious, but not in that way—not in a way that'd suggest they remembered what they'd done, what they'd turned into, and what the patients had done in return.

[Cloud and Nanaki~.]

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[36-24-35.livejournal.com]

By the time Zack returned with their food, Tifa was under control, still embarrassed of course, but it couldn't be seen on her relaxed face. She was back to looking like the quintessence of calm. The young woman took her burger and fries gratefully, flipping through the bun to make sure there wasn't anything on it she didn't want. The tomatoes didn't look all that ripe, but it wasn't like she had seen a good one since living in Nibelheim.

"Ohh, ice cream too? We sure got some saints working in this prison, lucky us, hmmm?" Her lips grew into something that resembled a shit-eating grin. She took a decisive bite of her burger while Zack continued talking, letting her bide her time before she came up with a satisfactory answer for such a loaded question. Burger was pretty good though. The meat was a little dry, but, eh, not bad. Taking a sip of her drink to clear her throat, Tifa finally spoke up. "Yeah, you could say that..." She was happy to know Cloud and Zack had found each other and hoped it hadn't been too much of a jarring experience. She had barely held it together. "And it doesn't look like I'll be slowing down any time soon by the look of it..." As much as she lamented the chance for a peaceful existence, it was times like these, back on the front lines, that she wondered how she could stand to be alone with her only her memories as company. At least in war you didn't have time for regrets. "Could be worse really..." There was a silver lining in everything, you just had to find it.

"How long have you been here?" It was hard to ask questions without asking the questions. "I saw Cloud a few days ago, but he didn't mention--well..." Tifa sighed, her smile growing lopsided. "It was probably the last thing that needed to be said..." Tifa drew her brows closer together and flattened her grin as she continued on in a deeper voice. "'I need to go stop my brainwashed roommate from committing murder through a mental hospital that goes bat shit at night. Oh by the way, Zack's still kickin' it around here...' Probably not a good way to start my first day..." She grabbed a fry and shoved the squishy thing into her mouth.

[zack-fair.livejournal.com]

It was so kind of them to offer ice cream when it was raining, too. Zack wasn't sure if he was going to claim his or not, though he supposed it wouldn't be so bad if they stayed in here and had it. It just would have been better suited to a hot, humid day -- the sort of thing he'd had to deal with way, way too often back in Gongaga.

Even though Tifa seemed to think she was still on a pretty fast roller-coaster ride, Zack got the feeling that fighting Sephiroth trumped being stuck in a place like this. He'd kind of experienced both, after all. He'd almost died that day in Nibelheim (it would have been a few years too early); in fact, it was probably thanks to Hojo that he managed to survive. Not that it had resulted in much, except that he'd managed to get Cloud somewhere safe.

Which had definitely been the right move, if his friend had been able to stop the general's triumphant return.

What really stood out to him about Tifa, though, was her comment that it could have been worse. That was a pretty amazing thing to say, if she'd really been through so much. It was the sort of attitude he tended to have, where he worked to keep a positive attitude even when everything around him was falling apart. It wasn't always easy, either, so he admired her for that.

He laughed at the girl's last comment and then shook his head. "I don't blame him for not telling you even if he knew. I mean, it is a lot to take in..." That was an understatement. He tried to imagine how he would have felt if he'd been confronted by Angeal here, and the conclusion was that he'd rather not entertain the thought at all. "Sorry if I scared you, though. Anyway, this is my fourth day here," he responded as he started in on his burger.

[36-24-35.livejournal.com]

Tifa held her mouth shut to prevent an embarrassed sigh from wiggling out, brown eyes looking down at the burger between her hands. "It's okay. Not your fault really. Thanks for not just bolting..." She was sure a lesser man would have gotten the fuck out of there if a girl started to cry in public.

"Four, huh?" Zack had only been here a day longer than she. It was kind of nice to know someone else was new to this as she was. Though as a SOLDIER, he probably used his time a bit more efficiently than she did. Last night she had just dicked around drinking the last of Rude's booze and wondering how they would keep it flowing. In hindsight, that was probably not the best way to manage her time since she should have been a bit more concerned for her friends and the others wandering the institute who may not be as savvy in combat.

Half her burger was gone and almost all of her fries. She was still hungry, but she was going to save the room for ice cream. Ugh, one more thing to travel to her ass.

I'm gonna have to work extra hard tonight to burn this meal off...

Speaking of... "Any plans tonight once we all get back to the institute...?"

[zack-fair.livejournal.com]

While Tifa was eating at a pretty good pace, Zack didn't have a hard time keeping up with her. He was used to eating quickly, since a lot of time he'd gotten a mission last minute and had only had a short amount of time to get some food down before it was off to take care of a monster problem or a terrorist threat or whatever else.

Once he'd eaten enough to hold him over until dinner (which he was crossing his fingers would come without incident), he leaned back in his seat and considered Tifa's question. It was a good one, but they didn't really have that board around to use for coordination.

For not the first time since he'd gotten here, Zack found himself patting over his pants pocket in search of his phone. Man...

"I should have asked Cloud when I was with him on the bus this morning," he said with a sigh. "I'm up for anything, though! My room is... M57, I think? But I know how to reach a few other places." Not many, he had to admit, but he'd get the hang of things soon enough. That he could be sure of. "Did you have something in mind?" He eyed the girl curiously. He had to admit, he was curious to see Tifa in action. He could already tell she'd changed a lot, but how did she handle in a fight?

[36-24-35.livejournal.com]

Tifa took a long sip of her drink, having expected Zack to have had plans and now needing to come up with an answer. So far all she had going for her was to rendezvous with Rude, since she missed him at the bar, and then go off in search of ingredients to make some form of drinkable alcohol. It didn't seem very impressive, especially in the face of a seasoned SOLDIER.

"I was going to meet up with someone--Rude, actually--and take stock of what provisions that institute keeps..." Yeah, that sounded much better than stealing a crap load of apples, ketchup, and a big trash bag. "And maybe I can find some kind of cushion for gloves. I'd rather not break my fist on some monster's face since our.... strength...." Well, it didn't need to be said.

Her eyes had fallen back to her meal as she began trailing off, but they quickly fell back up at Zack. "I'm F6, by the way... I'm not sure what Cloud's is..." Which was terribly sad since she had gone to Rude's room specifically for that reason. He probably told her too, but somehow Tifa thought she could retain knowledge while chugging back rum. "But I bet he'll be up for something if you need a partner in crime..." The brunette wasn't going to stop Zack from coming along if he was just dying to raid a kitchen, but she was pretty sure it didn't hold much appeal for anyone outside of her and Rude. It was a shame since Tifa doubted the two of them could carry back enough supplies in one haul. Maybe after she scoped the place out she could enlist a few boys to help her the next night.

[zack-fair.livejournal.com]

The moment that Rude's name was brought up, Zack's eyebrows rose up pretty far on his face. It was just so hard to imagine. Even though the changes in Tifa were obvious, this was almost too much. "Since when do you commiserate with Turks?" he asked, his tone between slightly teasing and genuinely curious. He was used to working alongside the suits, but part of him still looked at Tifa and saw that teenage girl in the cowboy hat. It was just weird.

He took note of her room number, realizing that it would be in his best interest to write all of the important ones down in his journal at some point. Zack also felt weird about not knowing Cloud's room number -- it turned out there were a lot of things he needed to bug his friend about. Preferably when the guy wasn't on the brink of tossing his cookies all over the bus floor.

"I'll see if I can get a hold of him somehow," he agreed. "Rude's got a good head on his shoulders, so I'm sure you two will be fine." Zack could have invited himself to the party, but he got the feeling they'd manage without him. It was better to spread out and cover as much ground as possible. "And... does that mean you fight with your fists?" He'd caught her earlier comment about the gloves, and he had to admit he was impressed. Close-quarters combat wasn't easy; Zack could manage it in a pinch, but it was something he'd never focused on because it was hardly his strongest area.

[36-24-35.livejournal.com]

"Since I had to start...." Her lip pulled up into a quiet snarl, not exactly happy about the whole situation. "He's been here a lot longer than me or Cloud or you... so..." She paused to munch on a cold fry. "He has pretty good information, getting him to talk is the tricky part..." But, well, she figured out how to his buttons quickly enough.

"First day too..." She groaned just thinking about the whole ordeal. "It was like I was a magnet for enemies. Met one guy named Loz who was from the future... yeah I dunno, but apparently he wanted a rematch over something..." The brunette didn't really know much about it so she hand waved the rest. "Then I see Rude sitting there and I thought he had to be in on this... so I started kicking at him...." Not having meant to ramble one and on, Tifa paused and summarized. "Long story short, there's enough enemies outside, we don't need to be squabbling amongst ourselves..." They were going to need every willing soul to help them escape so it wouldn't be a great idea to ostracize the one guy who was really damn good at fucking shit up.

As Zack continued, Tifa finished off the last of her drink, shaking the ice to find any hidden liquid that had been trapped. She almost balked at his question, but then remembered the SOLDIER hadn't exactly been around for a good long while. "Yeah, been training since I was a kid..." She kept it at that, not wanting to suck all the air out of the room by talking about herself. Though she had a new appreciation for her skills in this environment when everyone else was weaponless. She may not have her full strength anymore, but she was formidable nonetheless.

[zack-fair.livejournal.com]

If that was the case, then Zack couldn't be too surprised that Tifa had decided to throw her lot in with a Turk. He personally had no problem with it, since the Turks were efficient and usually knew what they were doing. It made him wonder if he should track Rude down himself, but he wasn't sure if he'd have any luck with getting him to spill. It had been hard enough with Tseng.

Zack stared at the girl when she brought up some random name of a person from the future -- so even she had to deal with that? He'd figured everyone was just ahead of him due to the obvious reasons of his death, but maybe it wasn't that simple. It sounded like Tifa could handle herself, though, since she'd wormed her way past all of her adversaries in one piece. He nodded when she made her final point; there really was no point in infighting. "Don't worry, I'm not going to pick any fights," he said with a smile. "I'm pretty close to a Turk or two. I don't know about any people from the future, though." If they cared about him, then they could go ahead and find him themselves.

He was pretty surprised to hear that Tifa had been working on her combat skills since she was a kid, though. He hadn't gotten any indication of that when he'd met her years ago, but maybe that was because the situation hadn't called for it. Or maybe she had still been a rookie back then. Seeing how they'd been dealing with the likes of Sephiroth, he couldn't imagine she'd been ready for something like that. "Guess it's coming in handy, huh?" Especially if all she needed to fight with was her fists.